50th anniversary of Earth Day a time to remember how far environmental protection has advanced

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50th anniversary of Earth Day a time to remember how far environmental protection has advancedApril 22, 2020https://www.tceq.texas.gov/news/tceqnews/the-latest/50th-anniversary-of-earth-day-a-time-to-remember-how-far-environmental-protection-has-advancedhttps://www.tceq.texas.gov/@@site-logo/2CR-TCEQ.jpg

50th anniversary of Earth Day a time to remember how far environmental protection has advanced

April 22, 2020

By Andrew Keese, Media Relations

When Rachel Carson penned her classic exposé,Silent Spring, in 1962, she chronicled numerous environmental calamities that people had to endure at the time, such as frequent fish kills.

It’s fair to say that Carson’s book helped to awake an American consciousness that something needed to be done, that economic growth did not necessarily need to mean environmental destruction.

By 1970, the first Earth Day was celebrated by people throughout the country, who took it upon themselves to take positive personal actions for the sake of the environment, including President Richard Nixon, who helped plant a tree on the grounds of the White House. By 1973, Congress and Nixon were responsible for creating the EPA, which created a framework to protect the health of the public and the nation’s natural resources.

The responsibilities granted to the EPA were shared with the states and ultimately gave rise to state environmental agencies, including what would eventually become the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Thanks to the EPA and TCEQ, most of us likely take many things for granted in our daily lives, such as the quality of the cup of water we drink or the stream we may be dipping our toes into on a typical hot summer day in Texas.

TCEQ has regulatory oversight of more than 700,000 entities in the state, including more than 7,000 public water systems, 3,165 industrial and municipal wastewater facilities, 4,000 dams, about 200 active landfills, numerous chemical production facilities, petroleum storage tanks, and much more.